Bounty hunters lured by cull of the wild

WEARERS of luxury mink coats once saw themselves at the height of fashion, but mink has now become a pest and a plague on other wildlife.

Introduced here when fur-producing farms were being set up in the 1950s, American mink are now widespread in the wild and appear to have spread all over the country at an alarming rate, wreaking havoc on fisheries, nature reserves and ground-nesting birds.

There have been numerous reports of attacks on domestic fowl and poultry farms. Mink have even been sighted on Puffin Island and the Great Blasket Island, seabird sanctuaries of international importance.

A bounty announced by Heritage Minister Jimmy Deenihan, which puts €3 on the head of every mink, is focusing attention on the predator.

The National Association of Regional Game Councils, which has been encouraging its members to trap mink for many years, is co-operating with the project.

The cull, however, is limited to Donegal, Kerry, Mayo and Galway, though wildlife observers believe feral mink are found in each county. In the absence of a national head count, estimates of the mink population vary from 30,000 to 50,000.

Deenihan says eradicating all mink from Ireland would cost €100m, but just €20,000 has been set aside for the bounty scheme. All of which shows the huge extent of the problem and the resources needed to tackle it effectively.

The department is concentrating mainly on protecting rare and threatened bird species, including red-throated diver, corncrake, grey partridge, waders and terns.

Mink rampaging through the countryside today are the descendants of animals that escaped from fur farms, or were deliberately set free, and which quickly became established in the wild. Clearly, mink adapted well to Irish conditions.

People who have resumed keeping hens and other fowl are well aware the fox is a traditional enemy of the coop, but there is now a greater fear of mink which can strike rapidly and wipe out not just farmyard fowl, but also commercial poultry enterprises.

Fish farms have also been hit. A few years ago, mink attacked rainbow trout-rearing cages run by the South Western Regional Fisheries Board on lakes at Inchigeela, Co Cork.

The mink swam out to the cages, chewed through the cage netting and killed the trout. Holes torn in the netting allowed thousands of trout to escape.

The protection of wildlife is also a major challenge. Sean Buckley, of Coolwood Wildlife Park, near Killarney, was almost “cleaned out” a few years ago, until he erected a metre-high, galvanised barrier around a pond area to keep out mink which had killed a number of ducks and geese.

He says the barrier has worked to a large extent, as mink appear to be unable to climb up on something, though they can burrow underground.

In contrast to the situation in the US, where they are preyed on by bobcats, wolves and coyotes, mink have no natural enemy in Ireland.

There is a belief, nevertheless, that the otter has become their natural enemy here.

Buckley says: “Otters are very territorial animals and are much bigger and stronger than mink. In a straight fight, a mink wouldn’t stand a chance against an otter.

You won’t find mink anywhere [where] there’s a good concentration of otters, but the jury is still out on whether the otter has become a serious enemy of mink.”

A semi-aquatic member of the weasel family, mink are found along waterways and lakes in North America, but generally prefer smaller streams to large, broad rivers.

Being long, thin animals, they are able to squeeze through small holes — which may account for many escapes from captivity. The mink is about the size of a house cat and is equally at home on land and water.

The mink has a long, narrow body, which can measure up to 76cm in a male, with short legs and a relatively long tail.

The head is flattened, the snout is short and pointed and the eyes are small. Colour is generally dark, chocolate brown and nearly black on feet and end of tail.

They are most common along streams partly choked by windfalls and debris that create numerous water holes and offer concealment.

Mink are active throughout the year and may travel several kilometres in search of food. Fish, frogs, clams, freshwater mussels, snakes, rats and mice, ground squirrels, muskrats and fowl constitute their main diet.

Mink are also causing havoc to other wildlife in parts of the UK and a major eradication programme has been underway for several years in the Scottish Hebrides. The mink population in the Hebrides has been estimated at between 10,000 and 15,000, which poses a major threat to wildlife in and around the islands.